USCCB : Bishops Use the Obama Method When Choosing Advisors

Mary Kay Henry's Bio:

[Emphasis Mine]

Mary Kay Henry was named one of the nation's "Top 25 Women in Healthcare" for 2009 by Modern Healthcare. For nearly 30 years, Henry has represented healthcare workers at the Service Employees International Union, where she helped lead the fight to expand healthcare for millions of children and strengthen the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Henry has devoted her life to helping America's healthcare workers form unions, improve their jobs and the quality of care, and advocate for a more rational and humane health care system. Her faith and values as a practicing Roman Catholic led her to pursue union organizing as a vocation.

...

An active champion of healthcare reform, Mary Kay envisions a U.S. healthcare system that provides universal coverage and gives front-line caregivers a real voice in patient care. She is a member of the executive board of Families USA, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans. She is also a labor adviser to and member of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops' Subcommittee on Catholic Health Care.

Mary Kay is also active in the fight for immigration reform and gay and lesbian rights. She is a founding member of SEIU's gay and lesbian Lavender Caucus. She and her partner, Paula Macchello, have been together for 20 years.

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Go ahead, 'Google' Mary Kay Henry and the phrase 'marriage' and see what you find.  Then give the Bishops the same treatment - see what they say about marriage.  Could the Bishops NOT find a Roman Catholic in the entire United States of America who adheres to Church teaching that could advise the USCCB on health care?

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Update December 7, 2009:

It seems that persons at the USCCB are taking the temperature of this story as this blog has been visited by individuals directly from the USCCB mail server.   A link to +Ponderings+ is obviously circulating.  

They recently responded to Catholic News Agency in regard to the scandal:

On Monday, Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, media director for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops spoke with CNA, clarifying the role of Service Employees Union executive and gay rights activist Mary Kay Henry with the bishops' conference.


Sr. Walsh noted that in the past, Mary Kay Henry was chosen by the unions to take part in a dialogue with the USCCB but left in 2006.

She was not appointed by the bishops, Sr. Walsh explained.

Last Friday it was discovered that Henry is listed on the USCCB website as a member of the Subcommittee on Justice, Peace, and Human Development who helped produce the working paper, “A Fair and Just Workplace: Principles and Practices for Catholic Health Care.”

The same day, CNA had asked Sr. Walsh about Henry's involvement with the USCCB, and she replied via email, “She is not a consultant.”

Henry, the international executive vice president for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was recently named one of the nation's "Top 25 Women in Healthcare" for 2009 by Modern Healthcare.  Her biography at the SEIU website explains that she is “active in the fight for immigration reform and gay and lesbian rights.”

As far as clarification goes, I don't think Sr. Walsh's e-mail cuts the mustard. Ms. Henry thinks she is an adviser to the USCCB in regard to health care according to the SEIU website.  If she is or is not remains to be seen.  We know that she served the USCCB in the past and according to Sr. Walsh, it was the union and not the Bishops who chose her.  Outstanding plan to have unions choose our advisers!  

Instead of 'googling' to see what the folks in the pews are saying about the issue, perhaps time would be better spent simply stating the facts of the matter.  No wonder so many faithful fail to go to the confessional - it seems the USCCB has a difficult time with confession themselves.  Hopefully, a self-inflicted penance of vetting all advisers and consultants in the future will be considered - and it would be a wonderful step on the path of reforming the USCCB.